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Katora Cut

When we were kids, my sisters and I used to laugh ourselves silly at people who sported what we called 'bowl haircuts'. You know what I mean. The type of haircut which looks as if the hairdresser put a bowl over their head and cut around it. It leaves you with a bowl-shaped helmet of hair.

When my kids get their hair cut. Yash brings them to the roadside barbers for basic treatment like their father gets, and his father before him. Yeah, Yash gets his hair cut there too. It's really cheap. Five rupees a head. Literally. Oh, yes, simple living and high thinking, that's the best thing! Why go to one of those fancy hair salons where you'll be charged two hundred rupees each? When all the kids can have their hair cut for twenty rupees. But not on Saturdays. My father in law will not allow anyone in our house to get their hair cut on Saturdays. Something to do with the planet Saturn, if you please!

Well, my daughters Mel and Trish wouldn't be caught dead at the roadside barbers. So we girls are all growing waist length hair. Well, I cheated and went to a salon recently. It cost me the princely sum of two hundred and fifty rupees. Ladies don't go to the roadside barber anyway. I waited patiently for Yash to notice the difference in my appearance. I'm still waiting.

Neil and Nitin went to the barbers last week with their father. I was amazed when I saw Nitin's hair. It looked suspiciously like 'the bowl'. "Are you SURE the barber didn't use a bowl?' I asked Yash. "Positive! I was there the whole time!" he replied. Well I know Yash is truthful to a fault. In a couple of day Nitin's appearance became normal again. Which reminds me of an old joke: "Q: What's the difference between a good haircut and a bad haircult? A: Two weeks!"

Meanwhile, as I go through life, I pick up on a lot of the things I hear and one of those things to which I've heard reference in the last couple of days is something called the 'katora cut'! That caught my attention in a flash. Katora! That's the Hindi word for bowl! So the concept of the 'bowl haircut' is here too! I can't for the life of me remember where I've heard this reference to the 'katora cut', maybe some comedy show was going on as I was passing the television. (I seldom watch television - paucity of time, you know?).

So I can rest assured, safe in the knowledge, that wherever one lives in the world, concepts, ideas and aspirations are basically the same. Well, whether it's called the 'bowl haircut' or the 'katora cut', it still makes me laugh.

Katora cut! First time I have heard that. Very apt. In Tamil there is a style called Chathura vattai. Square Cut. I suppose it means the same. Ranjan, my son, religiously gets his hair cut every alternate week and keeps like a Marine. Close to his skull. I have no choice. There is hardly any to cut anyway!

Yikes! the bowl cut! i remember those and not fondly. Were you able to find The Weight of Glory book? If not were doing a book a month and it will range from classics to modern of every genre. Hopefully you can find another months.

Loong looong ago, as kids, me and my cousin cut our own hair on a saturday morning. This we did to save a few pennies for our cricket match on sunday, the next day. But unfortunately we both end up at a hairstylist who charged 3 times the normal charge:( (i.e. the money we should have used for the next four matches) to rectify that mess we made to ourselves:)....you have a lovely blog and great write-ups......

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